Can you outline your training routine and beyond, especially for the Olympics?

We usually start at 5 in the morning. I train for about two-and-a-half to three hours in the pool. After that I hit the gym for about two hours, starting at 11. The next three hours are for lunch and rest. From 5pm, I am back in the pool for close to three hours. So it works out to about eight hours of training. Normally I swim about eight kilometres per day, apart from the gym work.

At theSingapore National Age Group Swimming Championships, 18 yrs old Saurabh Sangvekar clocked 15:34.67 sec to win a gold in 1,500m free style, which was well under the 'B' qualifying mark of 15:43.74 sec.

19 yrs old Aaron D'Souza clocked a creditable one minute 50.89 seconds in the final, which was well inside the 'B' qualifying mark of 1:51.59.

Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal improved their timings at the three-day Singapore Swimming Association Grand Prix ... Veer bettered the 50.34 seconds that he clocked in 100m freestyle in last year’s FINA World Championships by clocking 50.02s in the finals (OST is 50.53) ... Veer also met the OST in the 200m freestyle, his effort in the final (1:50.93s) was better than the qualifying time set at 1:51.59 ... Veer joins Karnataka’s Aaron D’ Souza as the second Indian to have met the OST in 200m freestyle ... D’Souza had clocked 1:50.89s in the Singapore National Open meet in last month ... But, according to FINA rules, the swimmer with a better OST stands a chance to qualify ... Veer failed to qualify in the 50m freestyle, his timing of 23.30s was slower than the OST that has been fixed at 22.88s.

Sandeep Sejwal also bettered a timing of 1:02.62s which he clocked in 100m breaststroke in the FINA Worlds last July by clocking 1:02.26s (OST is 1:02.92s.).

Next they r participating in the 55th Malaysian Open, an Olympic qualifying event with 8 more swimmers.

As per report, India finished second on the medal tally at the 55th Malaysia Open Swimming Championships with a haul of 6 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze medals. Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal won 3 Gold medals each in the 50, 100 and 200m Freestyle and Breaststroke respectively.

Virdhawal clocked a season best time in the 50m Freestyle (23.08sec).

Khade (100m and 200m freestyle) and Sejwal (200m breaststroke) met the OST in the meet ... Sejwal clocked 2:16.16s in 200m breaststroke while the OST was set at 2:16.35s, so he improve his chances of getting FINA invitation for London Olympics.

The swimmers’ next chance is the Federation Cup in Hyderabad from June 1 to 3, an Olympic Games qualifying tournament.

A detailed check has revealed that 13 swimmers (12 men and one woman) in FINA's 'Universality' list had already cleared the Olympic Selection Time (OST) or the 'B' standard mark.

As per the rules, India, with four 'B' mark swimmers, are not eligible under the Universality quota. Now if FINA has 'accommodated' India under this category, clearly it wouldn't have objected a nomination for either Virdhawal Khade or Sandeep Sejwal since the world swimming body has accepted 'B' mark swimmers from countries such as Egypt, Ecuador, Uruguay, Panama, Senegal amongst others.

The SFI had been given three choices for athlete selection to London 2012, not one.

FINA had sent the names of Virdhawal, Sandeep and Gagan Ulalmath to SFI for nomination under the Universality quota, which Nanavati confirmed saying it was as per participation at Shanghai, where Gagan swam the 800m - not part of the men's Olympic competition.

SFI CEO and FINA technical committee member Virendra Nanavati - "Sandeep and Virdhawal have already represented India at Beijing. Why can't we send Gagan? It's not as if we are going to reach the semifinals or the finals. We should encourage Gagan, he's been a performer. Sandeep and Virdhawal's forms have deteriorated and their performance at the Rome qualifying event was not up to the mark."

Though not a great World championship for our swimmers but still our following swimmers have officially attained the Olympic Selection "B" Time.

Virdhawal Khade was participating after two years in any international event ... He clocked 23.01sec and finished 38 out of 113 swimmers in the 50 freestyle, faster than the Olympic 'B' qualifying standard of 23.05sec.

Sandeep Sejwal clocked timing of 1:02.17sec in the 100m breaststroke which was faster than the Olympic 'B' qualifying standard of 1:02.69sec ... He finished 36 out of 75.

Sajan Prakash clocked timing of 15:45.29sec in the 1500m freestyle to finished 35 out of 45 ... The "B" Time in the Men's 1500m Freestyle is 15:46.79sec.

This does seem like an improvement in timing from the trio.
However I believe this does not guarantee either of them an Olympic place. Swimmers who achieve the "B" timing will be invited per-event on the basis of their World ranking; and that too only until global quota is reached. So its quite possible that we get only 1 "Universality" quota in each gender.

indiansportsfan wrote:However I believe this does not guarantee either of them an Olympic place. Swimmers who achieve the "B" timing will be invited per-event on the basis of their World ranking; and that too only until global quota is reached. So its quite possible that we get only 1 "Universality" quota in each gender.